The location of the windmill in Förstenau.
Die Lage der Windmühle in Förstenau.

The windmill in Förstenau.
Die Windmühle in Förstenau.

Förstenau was laid out in 1376 and a parish was created in the same year. Since the mid-1400's it was a Polish royal estate. During the Counter-Reformation, Gwiezdin/Förstenau was the most important stronghold of the Jesuits from Konitz/Chojnice. At that time, the Protestants had to pay five times as much for a burial in the local cemetery than did the Catholics. The present wooden church was built in the years 1668-1690 with an endowment from the Czluchow/Schlochau governor, Mikolaj Radziwill. From the book: Kashubia Homeland of the Baltic Slavs.